Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
[Rough Trade]

If LA has had any effect on the sunshine pop, Simon & Garfunkel-fed sound of Belle & Sebastian, it has been to add a layer of Doors filth to the squeaky clean tweeness.

I love this band. I love the way they have grown and stretched and yet been themselves on every album they've produced. The Life Pursuit is no exception. In fact, they seem to have pushed themselves in new directions to the point where they seem like a new band.

The Life Pursuit is their best album yet, in my opinion. Opening with the edgy Act Of The Apostle, with its cocky 'If I could make sense of it all', this is the sound of a band whose balls have dropped.

The album throbs with maturity, reflection and innumerable life changes. While the stretch of previous releases from Tiger Milk to Dear Catastrophe Waitress powered along as though on helium, this latest album is getting its high from a heavier source. It's almost as if your slightly geeky, sensitive little brother suddenly got laid and became a man. Sukie In The Graveyard is a prime example of this. Filthy riffing, soulful horns, Bolan-esque lead vocals and frenzied backing vocals ooze sex through your speakers. Song For Sunshine has a similarly pheromonal groove.

The Blues Are Still Blue has the spirit of T-Rex all over it with its glam heavy drums and rock out guitars. Marc Bolan's twisted genius has definitely become an influence, it would seem. We Are The Sleepyheads has Haircut 100 guitars and a mess of bad speed ba-da-ba b/vs.

There's also a Beck-like quality to this album, in the sense that Beck is an American who might as well be British. Whether that's down to the production techniques of Tony Hoffer, or whether it's the band growing older and quirkier, it's a welcome thing.

Lead single Funny Little Frog was an inspired choice to prime the album. People who thought they hated, or at the most were indifferent to, Belle & Sebastian have expressed surprise that this single was by them. It's still recognisably them, but it does introduce the concept that the band has more musical muscle than their previous beautiful but fey form suggested to many. The most Northern Soul-ish of all the tracks on this album, its tracklisting position pulls the sound around from the glam funk pop that has gone before in preparation for the Folk-Motown clash of To Be Myself Completely, which swings in a way nobody could have guessed that Folk was capable of. I don't know what that means, but it's very very good.

Beyond all the musical deviation, inspiration and innovation, though, the lyrics still pack a punch like they always did. Storytelling within pop music is a rare talent. For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea is a snapshot of a moment in life as good as many a short story.

Last track Mornington Crescent is almost pure Kinks. Fragile and beautiful, musically it reflects and drifts like Waterloo Sunset, while lyrically it's a celebration of hazy days and nights and a dream of how perfect life can be within the narrow confines of our daily grind. Ideal for making out to.

After so many of my favourite artists disappointed me last year with their latest offerings, it's lovely to be able to say that Belle & Sebastian have surprised and delighted me with this album. Except they're no longer twee, so really I should say that this album fucking rocks like a badass muthafucka. There you have it.